


Paradise Found

by Sid



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Fellatio, First Time, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Off-World, Slash, off-world sex, underwater fellatio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-10
Updated: 2011-10-10
Packaged: 2017-11-02 17:26:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/371508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sid/pseuds/Sid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daniel has been through a traumatic offworld experience and isn’t recovering very well, so Jack steps in.  Written for tresa_cho in the 2011 Jack/Daniel Ficathon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paradise Found

Jack lay in bed listening to Daniel’s mutterings coming from the other side of the low wall that divided their sleeping areas while allowing for maximum air flow in this hot climate. Another bad dream, it sounded like. This little vacation of theirs didn’t seem to be having the effect he’d hoped for.

Warm, peaceful days stretched out soaking up the rays of a sun that never burned. (Jack had doubted Thor’s word at first, and hadn’t begun to understand Carter’s explanation, but the sun block and aloe vera lotion he’d packed – just in case – hadn’t been needed.) Long swims, short dips, aimless paddling, oh-so-strenuous floating, all on their very own private lake with the clearest water Jack had ever seen.

Daniel had wanted to bring a suitcase full of books, of course. Jack put the kibosh on that plan and packed his own idea of suitable beach reading. Biographies, thrillers, mysteries. Lightweight compared to Daniel’s usual fare, but he was devouring them without complaint.

Jack shifted onto his side. The lack of complaining was a sign that Daniel still wasn’t himself, although rest, fresh air, moderate exercise and nourishing food at regular intervals was restoring vigor to his body and a healthy sparkle to his eyes. He’d been a wreck after P3X-411 and Jack had hated watching his decline, although he’d certainly understood it.

Being loaned out to SG-10, going through the ‘Gate on what was meant to be a low-risk, Daniel-delighting archaeological-type excursion, but coming home dragging SG-10’s sole survivor of a quake and avalanche behind him was enough to devastate any man.

And Daniel had been known to brood. Hence, ultimately, this vacation, when the signs of sleep deprivation and overwork became too obvious to ignore in the hopes that they’d go away. Jack worked at being an undemanding, cheerful companion. They played chess and poker, and worked crossword and jigsaw puzzles, chitchatting idly, when they weren’t swimming and sunbathing. It was all very nice and relaxing.

Daniel shouted in his sleep.

Jack scrubbed a hand across his face and rolled out of bed. He padded around the end of the dividing wall and squatted beside Daniel’s air mattress. He put a firm hand on Daniel’s shoulder and called his name loudly.

Daniel shot upright and reached out, unseeing.

“Daniel!” Jack gave him a shake.

Daniel sniffed, blinked and shook his head. He inhaled sharply.

“You awake now?”

Daniel rubbed under his nose and sniffed again. “Yeah.”

Jack patted his shoulder. “We meet again.”

“Thanks.”

“Not a problem.” Daniel rolled over, and Jack thought for a second that he was going straight back to sleep, but he was getting to his feet on the other side of the mattress. “Where are you going?”

“I’m a sweaty mess.” Daniel laughed at himself without any humor. “I’m going for a swim.”

Jack rose. “Give me a second to take a leak and I’ll come with.”

Daniel waved his hand. “No, you go back to bed. One of us might as well be getting some sleep.”

“Daniel. You’re not swimming alone in the middle of the night, when you’re just barely awake.”

“Always the mother hen.”

Daniel said it lightly, but in the shadowy moonlit gloom of their open-air cabin Jack could see his fist clench.

“Mother hens don’t skinny dip at the crack of darkness. Be right with you.” Jack took a flashlight and hurried to use the camping toilet. He wouldn’t put it past Daniel to go off without him. But Daniel was waiting when he came back, although he started walking without waiting for Jack to catch up.

Jack wasn’t going to complain about that. Anything that let him enjoy the sight of Daniel’s ass in the moonlight wasn’t worth complaining about. It looked pretty good in the daylight, too, but moonlight painted inviting shadows….

They’d ditched the swim trunks almost right away. If the sun wasn’t going to burn their dainty parts, what was the point? And Daniel was many things, but modest wasn’t one of them. Jack had always found it puzzling that Daniel seemed to be shy about his body in some respect that Jack couldn’t quite put his finger on (ha! if wishes were horses,) or maybe it was other people’s bodies he was shy of, yet at the same time he seemed perfectly comfortable with nudity.

Just one of the many intriguing things about Daniel that Jack enjoyed pondering from time to time.

When Daniel reached their lounge chairs, he turned to Jack and said, “You don’t have to come in. I’ll swim parallel to the shore.”

“I’ll just come in and splash around.”

Daniel’s shoulders squared. “I’m as sick of this as you are.”

Oh, that was bitter. Jack chose his words carefully and spoke them mildly. “It’ll pass.”

The telltale shoulders slumped; Daniel’s head drooped. “It doesn’t seem to be going that way.”

“Guilt’s a bitch,” Jack said softly.

Daniel was silent for a moment. “I have nothing to feel guilty about.”

Jack spread a hand. “You survived.”

That got Daniel’s head up in a hurry. “Survivor’s guilt? Really, Jack?”

“It exists.”

“Oh, tell me about it, please. Like I didn’t learn everything there is to know about survivor’s guilt when I was eight years old.”

_Shit_. Jack closed his eyes for a second. “Sorry. But knowing about it and understanding how it works doesn’t just make it go away.”

“Why not?” Daniel sounded weary. “No, never mind. And don’t even think about telling me that it’s just going to take more time.”

“I try to avoid being stupid twice in the same conversation.”

Daniel snorted. “Since when?”

“Hey! On your side, here!”

“Yeah. I know. Team leader to the rescue. It isn’t that I don’t….”

“Hold on there. Just a minute. You think I’m doing this because it’s my _job_?”

“Not _just_. I know that you sincerely care.”

“Dragging you off to a tropical alien paradise?” Jack waggled a finger. “Not part of my job description.”

“I… yes, I just said I know that you really do _care_.”

“Damn straight, I do.”

Daniel put his hands on top of his head for several seconds and then dropped them to his sides. “How much?”

Jack coughed. “What?”

“How much?”

There didn’t seem to be any safe answer to that question, and Jack’s vocal cords didn’t seem to be cooperating anyway.

“A lot? Would you say? Would that be safe to say?”

Jack shook his head. He was getting more certain by the second that _nothing_ would be safe to say.

“You really, really care.” Daniel sounded like he’d made a delightful discovery.

Jack shook his head again. Which was a dumb thing to do; he was doth protesting too much and he knew it right away. Apparently Daniel did, too. Nothing else would explain what happened next.

There was moonlight, a warm breeze off the lake, sand between his toes, and a sweaty, sticky Daniel pressed up against him, kissing him. Between one second and the next everything had changed.

Maybe he was the one dreaming now, Jack thought. Things like this didn’t really happen. Things this good didn’t happen. Not to him. Not on an alien beach under unfamiliar stars on a humid night with air that smelled like the lemon verbena soap his grandmother had always used. He’d been racking his brain trying to identify that elusive damn scent ever since they’d arrived. Apparently the shock of being kissed by Daniel was all that had been needed to shake the memory loose.

Jack reluctantly pulled back from the kiss in question.

“What?” Daniel asked, looking confused and hungry. Then his expression changed and his upper body moved back a few inches, and Jack could literally see the wrong impression implanting itself into Daniel’s head.

“No,” he said, reaching out.

Daniel took a step back.

“No, no,” Jack repeated. He moved in and locked lips with Daniel again, feeling the tension immediately leave the body in his arms. After holding and kissing Daniel for another minute, Jack pulled back again.

Daniel smiled tentatively. “What?”

Jack waved a hand. “I just need to be sure that this isn’t just you being… not quite yourself.”

Daniel nodded, a slow up-and-down of understanding. “This is me. This is so, so me. Me for the last eight months or so.”

Jack licked his bottom lip and felt a spark flare inside. “Eight months? That’s a fairly precise number.”

“It was Christmas.”

“Christmas.”

“I fell in love with you at Christmas.” Moonlight gleamed in Daniel’s eyes.

Questions and declarations and physical impulses warred within Jack. He settled for saying, “Was it the elf hat?”

Daniel grinned broadly. “No, it was the reindeer sweater. _And_ the elf hat.”

Emotion swelled in Jack’s chest. “Sexy combination, hey?”

“Well, I wanted to get you out of both of them, if that’s what you mean.”

“Somehow I don’t think that is what I meant.”

“Probably not.” Daniel looked embarrassed. “The sweater was completely hideous, but it looked so _soft_. I kept wanting to….”

“You touched my back!”

Daniel’s eyes got round. “You remember that?”

Jack could remember it right now: how much he’d liked having Daniel’s hand on his back, the tiny physical thrill, the bigger emotional kick. “You hardly ever touch.” He swallowed. “I remember.” _All of them_ , he didn’t add.

Daniel smiled, just a little. “I started learning about rejection about the same time I learned about survivor’s guilt.” He shrugged. “I don’t reach out much.”

“Yet you reached out tonight.”

“I’m actually touching you right now.”

“I know. I approve. Parts of me approve strongly.”

Daniel looked down and licked his lips. “That doesn’t look like rejection, I have to say.”

“Not even close.” Jack nudged Daniel’s head up and kissed him.

Daniel was the one to pull away this time, his hand sliding from Jack’s back up over his shoulder and down to his elbow. “I’m still a sweaty mess. A much _happier_ one, but…” He slid his hand down Jack’s forearm and gripped his wrist. “Come in the water with me, Jack. Let’s swim.”

Jack let himself be pulled to the shoreline. “Is that what you young people are calling it these days?”

Daniel let go of him and walked backwards into the lake, his erection pointing at Jack. He laughed and his laughter echoed softly over the water. “Come in and find out.”

Jack went in. What he found was a world of sensual pleasure, where he was caressed by both the lapping lake and by Daniel’s strong, impatient hands, where cool limbs wrapped around him and held him fast, where water filled his ears while Daniel’s tongue filled his mouth. The moonlight painted an unforgettable picture of Daniel looking up at him through the clear, dark water, while his mouth enveloped Jack in a heat that made him shiver.

When Daniel rose up the water streamed from his hair, his face, his chest, in a cascade of silver. It was the most magnificent sight Jack had ever seen. He fell to his knees.

Daniel was a wavering shadow above him, shimmering around the edges. While Jack couldn’t see his face, he knew Daniel could see his. He kept his eyes open, staring up, as he reached for Daniel and slowly, oh so slowly, guided him to his waiting greedy mouth.

Jack didn’t know how long he could hold out without oxygen, but Daniel’s hands clenching in his hair, filling him with sweet pain, told him that was not going to be a problem.

Later, as they floated together, sculling, watching the moon dip in the sky, Jack inhaled the scent of lemon verbena and allowed himself to believe, just for a little while, that all his problems, and Daniel’s, were a thing of the past. He raised his cupped hand from the water and let silver slip through his fingers and shower down over them, in benison and hope for the future.


End file.
